The present invention generally relates to floppy disc recording and/or reproducing apparatuses, and more particularly to a floppy disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus which is designed so that when a floppy disc cartridge which accommodates a floppy disc is inserted into a cartridge holder of a loading mechanism, the cartridge holder moves downwards of the apparatus while a push-eject member which is provided with a push-button for carrying out an ejecting operation moves frontwards of the apparatus, to carry out the loading of the floppy disc cartridge.
Recently, as a type of a magnetic disc for storing information, a so-called floppy disc is used in word processing systems and the like. Presently, there are two kinds of standardized floppy discs, one having a diameter of 8 inches, and the other having a diameter of 5 inches. These floppy discs are accommodated within a flexible cover or envelope which is provided with windows. The thickness of the flexible cover is extremely thin.
When carrying out recording or reproduction in a conventional floppy disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus, the cover accommodating the floppy disc is inserted into the main apparatus body. The cover is positioned, so that the floppy disc is concentrically positioned with respect to a disc driving shaft. Next, when a predetermined lever is manipulated, a tapered pad which is free to undergo idling rotation moves toward the disc driving shaft to lightly push the central part of the floppy disc, in the periphery of the center hole in the floppy disc, against the disc driving shaft. The floppy disc is rotated unitarily with the disc driving shaft in this state. Accordingly, the cover, that is, the floppy disc is not displaced along the axis of the disc driving shaft.
In addition to the two kinds of floppy discs described above, a floppy disc having a diameter of 3 inches has recently been developed in order to meet various demands. Because the size of this 3-inch floppy disc is small, the floppy disc is accommodated within a rigid plastic cartridge instead of a flexible cover, so as to facilitate the handling of the floppy disc and provide positive protection against large shock which may be applied to this small cartridge.
A disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus which operates together with the floppy disc which is accommodated within the rigid plastic cartridge, is disclosed in a U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,905, for example. According to the disclosed apparatus, the cartridge accommodating the floppy disc is first inserted into a cartridge holder, because the thickness of the cartridge is greater than the thickness of the extremely thin flexible cover described before. The inserted cartridge is positioned concentrically with a driving shaft, within the cartridge holder. The cartridge holder then moves toward the driving shaft so as to load the floppy disc with respect to the driving shaft.
However, according to the apparatus disclosed in the above U.S. patent, the loading and unloading of the floppy disc with respect to the driving shaft, are carried out by slightly rotating the cartridge holder and therefore the cartridge about a predetermined position by a small angle. That is, the cartridge holder can assume positions in two planes. The cartridge is in an unloaded state in a plane which is slightly rotated with respect to a horizontal plane, and is in a loaded state in the horizontal plane. Hence, in order to place the cartridge and therefore the floppy disc into the loaded state, the operator had to first insert the cartridge into the cartridge holder, and then manipulate a lever which is integrally provided with respect to the cartridge holder so as to slightly rotate the cartridge holder to a loading position. As a result, two independent operations, one being the operation to insert the cartridge into the cartridge holder and the other being the manipulation of the lever, had to be carried out in order to load the cartridge. Therefore, there was a disadvantage in that these operations were troublesome to carry out.